PORTSMOUTH — Accused of exerting "undue influence" over an elderly woman to inherit her estate, police Sgt. Aaron Goodwin arranged for the woman to sign a new trust, giving him her waterfront home and contents, stocks and a Cadillac, according to a video recorded when the woman signed the new trust.

Elizabeth Dinan

PORTSMOUTH — Accused of exerting "undue influence" over an elderly woman to inherit her estate, police Sgt. Aaron Goodwin arranged for the woman to sign a new trust, giving him her waterfront home and contents, stocks and a Cadillac, according to a video recorded when the woman signed the new trust.

The woman, Geraldine Webber, died Dec. 11 at age 94. According to her death certificate, Webber's primary cause of death was "inanition," a medical term for malnutrition and starvation.

Attorney James Ritzo has asked a county probate judge to study the circumstances surrounding Webber's endorsement of the new trust for her estate, which he values at $1.6 million. He tells the court he was Webber's attorney for 25 years and managed her estate for that quarter-century, while alleging she had dementia when she endorsed the new trust last May.

Seven months before she died, Webber was visited by Hampton attorney Gary Holmes and several witnesses who executed the new trust. The meeting was recorded on the video made by Holmes' staff and was released to interested parties Wednesday.

It shows Holmes explaining to Webber that she'd asked him six months earlier to rewrite her trust and to designate the majority of her assets to Goodwin. The attorney tells Webber her house and its contents, her car, stocks in General Electric, Exxon and Con Edison, and a municipal bond with the city of Portsmouth would all be transferred to Goodwin at the time of her death.

The video then shows Webber mistakenly refer to Goodwin as "Eric," instead of Aaron, before calling the police sergeant her "second son."

"I loved him the day I met him," Webber was recorded saying the day she signed her new trust.

Ritzo said he believes the stocks and bond are worth $700,000. Webber's home, which features boat docks and an in-ground swimming pool, is assessed for $805,000.

Seen on the video during the execution of her new trust, Webber is recorded saying Goodwin first went to her home to check on "that no-good gang" she believed was prowling her neighborhood. She also says Goodwin and his brother took her to a Connecticut casino.

Holmes is recorded assuring Webber that the new trust means he and Goodwin would manage her affairs if she became incapacitated and after her death. Webber was recorded calling the estate plan incomplete because it didn't provide for Goodwin, before Holmes reminded he'd just explained that it did. The elderly woman then made a sexual remark about the police sergeant to whom she was about to leave the bulk of her estate.

Before Webber's trust was amended last spring, the terms of her prior will, written by Ritzo in 2009, bequeathed $240,000 to Braintree (Mass.) High School for the purpose of a scholarship in memory of Webber's late son, Bruce. The new trust leaves the high school $25,000.

The will Ritzo wrote for Webber also stated her assets would be sold and, after her bills were paid, one-fourth of the money would be given to the Sloan Kettering Cancer Research Clinic in New York, one-fourth given to the Shriners Hospital for Children-Boston, and the other two-fourths given to the Portsmouth police and fire departments.

The new trust now gives those parties $25,000 each, about 90 percent less.

Also new to the trust written by Holmes, which Holmes says on video was drafted at Goodwin's direction, is that $25,000 each would go toward a Chase Home for Children scholarship and Portsmouth Police Capt. Mike Schwartz.

"I'd really like to leave him more, but it wouldn't be fair to the rest of the Police Department," Webber is recorded saying about Schwartz on video. "How much did I leave the Police Department?"

Police Chief Stephen DuBois said Wednesday there's been "a lot of chatter" about the situation, but it will be up to a judge to hear all evidence and make a final determination. DuBois said he also doesn't manage what people do "in their personal lives."

"I'd be wrong to jump to any conclusions," he said. "It's up to the court to come up with a complete conclusion."

Holmes has consistently declined to comment about the allegations, while Goodwin has denied wrongdoing. The police sergeant previously provided the Portsmouth Herald with letters from the state Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services dated June 12 and Sept. 19, which say investigations into reports of elder exploitation were conducted and deemed unfounded.

Similarly, Portsmouth police officials said they conducted investigations and determined Goodwin's contact with Webber was largely off-duty and nothing criminal had occurred.

Ritzo alleges in court records that Webber asked him to change her will so she could "leave her entire estate to Detective Aaron Goodwin," but he refused because of Webber's "mental state." He further alleges in court filings that Goodwin shopped Webber's will to "at least" four attorneys, asking them to change the will "so he would inherit the 'entire estate,' and discussed plans for renovating (her) house when he received it."

Before her death, Webber told the Herald that Goodwin, 33, had taken her to casinos and she described him as "the best thing that ever happened to me."

"It's my money and my house, and I'll do as I please," she said.

Ritzo has filed a $65,000 claim against the estate for the 25 years he represented Webber without payment. If the will he wrote is found by a judge to remain valid, he's entitled to 5 percent of her estate.

Advertise

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
seacoastonline.com ~ 111 New Hampshire Ave., Portsmouth, NH 03801 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service